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User: mrsteele

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Comments · 67

  1. Re:Firefox isn't shiny and new, it's just better on Firefox Is Lagging Behind, Its Co-Founder Says · · Score: 1

    A couple friends and I have all noticed the same issue in the last 5 months: streaming video on FF has become an issue. It stutters, it freezes, the audio has problems.

    That's the number one reason I now use Chrome as my main browser. Fix the video, FF, and I'll come back.

  2. Re:unpossible on Students Failing Because of Poor Grammar · · Score: 1

    But National BSA used to let individual Troops and Councils have a lot more flexibility. Your Troop may have given you a hard time over being an atheist, but other troops didn't care. Not all troops want to ban gays, but they're under enormous pressure to do so. In recent decades National has been trying to enforce a universal vision on the Troops, which has resulted in the BSA not resembling the group I grew up in.

    I'm not going to pretend that my troop would have been friendly to an openly gay member (it was a long time ago), but no one in my troops would have ever stood for blatant discrimination against gays and atheists like National now espouses.

    I'd love to be involved in the BSA as an adult, but I find it's current actions abhorrent.

  3. Re:Big Pharma won't like this... on Gates Foundation Plans To Invest $10B Into Vaccines · · Score: 1

    While the Pharm companies aren't likely in collusion, they certainly aren't in classic competition with each other, either. They compete for our dollars, but it's not like each company produces a car, and consumers just choose which car to purchase. Each company spends huge amounts of money to discover drugs that will sell. They then make huge amounts of money on that drug while they have a patent on it, and only they can sell it.

    If one drug company finds a way to raise their prices, every other company will adopt the same practice. None of them are looking to undercut the others, because almost none of their products are identical enough to consumers. You take the one that works best for you, not the cheapest one.

  4. Re:Grad student with huge loans on Student Loan Interest Rankles College Grads · · Score: 1

    There are only a handful of public undergrad universities charging that much. On the one hand, i don't blame you for going for the best education you can get, but on the other hand I know there were cheaper options.

    Also, I in no way doubt you, but I'm not sure I understand how your loans are continuing to accrue interest while you are a student. I've never know a single person in grad school to be in that position, and I've known people in grad school with a ton of debt. Do you have an unusual situation?

  5. Re:Feminism is destructive on FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire and Denial · · Score: 1

    "Because that is how human being operate."

    Yes, we have gut level instincts. Evolved survival mechanisms. Immediate reactions.

    We also have the ability to reason and to control ourselves. Saying we shouldn't bother to try and change something is just lazy.

    If you accept that many people don't fit stereotypes, then stereotypes can only be a bad thing in our modern society, and we should make an effort to not use them.

    You suggest that people who don't fit stereotypes should just point out that they don't to others? (that's the only interpretation I can come up with for accepting someone is different while still not treating everyone the same) Isn't that just singling them out? That's one of the big points of treating people as individuals: so we *aren't* singling out the people that don't fit the stereotypes.

    We clearly just disagree, but I'm surprised to hear you espouse those beliefs after you admit that you don't meet the typical male stereotype. Have you never had your opinion dismissed because of the 'group' you belong to? "Oh, you just think that because your a guy." "Oh, you wouldn't get it because your a woman." Don't instances like that call on us to treat everyone the same?

  6. Re:Feminism is destructive on FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire and Denial · · Score: 1

    Being equal in modern society means having the ability to choose one's own destiny without society placing unfair expectations on them. It's possible that there is a genetic component to temperament, but one of the things that modern research has shown us is that variation within groups (even sexes) is enormous. To simply say that 'women are usually happier at home taking care of the kids' reduces what we actually know down to a level where it's borderline incorrect. It also reinforces historical gender roles that limit people's choices.

    I think the mistake you (and many many others) are making is in trying to link decisions like this to sex at all. (I'm not talking about research here. I think research is valuable. I'm talking about how we interpret things in every day life) Why not just say that's how you two worked it out without referring to sex? I think that once you've linked those decisions to sex in your head, you're more likely to view other people's decisions through the same lens, and once enough of us do that, we end up restricting people's options, even unintentionally.

    We're all individuals, whether we're male or female, black or white, gay or straight. Sometimes many members of a group have a similar trait, but that doesn't mean all (or even a majority) of the people in the group are the same. It's an easy way to categorize in our head, but every time we think that a group acts in one way, we're treating people as a category and not an individual.

    Why can't we just take everybody as they are, and not try to explain their decisions as 'that's because they are a [group]'?

  7. Re:Feminism is destructive on FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire and Denial · · Score: 1

    You are more fulfilled providing for your family outside the home because that's who you are.

    Your wife is more fulfilled being present in the home to raise your children because that's who she is.

    It's certainly not because your a man and she's a woman. Plenty of women would prefer a job over staying home with the kids, and there are men out there that would like to stay home.

    You ideas are inherently sexist, and contribute to a system in which women are generally *expected* to stay home, and a man is *expected* earn the family's living. That makes your comment about sexism being dead especially hilarious.

    All people are equal, not all people are the same. Not all women are the same. Not all men are the same. That's one of the key points of the civil rights movement (including modern feminism): allowing people to make their own choices.

  8. Re:OT: who to blame for economic woes (vendor lock on Why Is It So Difficult To Allow Cross-Platform Play? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously? Fucking insightful? I hate seeing this same meme bandied about.

    There were multiple actions by the government that worked together with a firm belief that housing prices would continue to rise to cause this situation. Deregulation by one party. Broadening lending standards by another. Bankers who found ways to make money that while not illegal, required a firm willful ignorance of potential future calamity.

    No one group is responsible for this, and to try and claim otherwise shows a complete misunderstanding of the situation.

  9. Re:US laws are not the best on Working Off the Clock, How Much Is Too Much? · · Score: 1

    I agree with the posters above about the end result: that the middle class is not voting for what would give them the best situation. I don't think it's entirely due to them being stupid, or being fooled by the wealthy. It's an extension of the 20th Century American Dream. Tons of Middle/Lower class individuals believe that one day they too will have a million dollars, and when they finally achieve it, they want to be able to keep most of it. They don't believe that they will stay middle class for the rest of their lives, so they don't vote to help the middle class.

  10. Re:Disney pah on Tron Legacy Exposed · · Score: 1

    eh, that trailer looked like it had removed most of the things I liked about the original.

    making the cycles more like real motorcycles? wtf? one of the points was that it was our world. it was electronic. the laws of physics didn't need to apply.

  11. Re:Unemployment Rates on Craigslist Kills Erotic Services Ads, Will Launch Adult Section · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not to mention I'm completely baffled how the AGs are up in arms about these sections, calling them 'dangerous', when the Casual Encounter sections are the real ones filled with scary people.

  12. Re:WTF? on Adult Website Use At Work Leads To Hacker Conviction · · Score: 1

    So you should *lie* about your beliefs during voir dire? Boy, that's the pot calling the kettle black...

  13. Re:Are there more than 20 apps for it? on Ten Features To Love About Android 1.5 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Crappy devices and development stagnation did the Palm line in. When the iPhone launched it looked exactly what Palm *should* have done with their devices.

    I loved Palm 8-10 years ago, and I wrote several apps for my own personal use, but I stopped being interested in them when the entire marketplace passed them by.

  14. Re:depends on Your Commuting Costs By Car Vs. Train? · · Score: 1

    Obviously people like me are likely in the minority, but I *hate* books on tape. I can't enjoy them at all, especially when I'm also operating a vehicle. I'm constantly missing bits here and there, and then having to rewind.

    Since I hear suggestions like this all the time, I wish more people understood that for at least some of us, books on tape are not a good option.

  15. Re:Bibtex on Shuttleworth Says Ubuntu Can't Just Be Windows · · Score: 3, Interesting

    First of all, what percent of academic writing includes typeset equations? A very small percentage.

    Secondly, if I could get style files for the journals I publish in, I would seriously consider LaTeX. But since I can't, it's certainly not worth my time to learn. I've looked into it three separate times over the past 8 years, but its never been close to user-friendly enough for me.

    And ps: while I don't do it for a career, I have coded many times. I'm not ignorant. I just know what I want to spend my time doing.

  16. Re:People just don't understand Linux on Linux On Netbooks — a Complicated Story · · Score: 1

    It's a great feature, but I can never get it to work properly unless all parties are using the exact same version of word. And unless it's a corporate environment where everyone is running the same software, this almost never happens.

  17. Re:So change the rules on Internet-Caused Mistrials Are On the Rise · · Score: 1

    This comes up in /. more than it ever does in real life. Overall, modern courts do not support this idea, and I wish it would stop being so prominent here. It's simply bad advice. It's a good way to get tossed off a jury, and that's about it.

  18. Re:On one hand... on Harlan Ellison Sues For "Star Trek" Episode · · Score: 1

    Although I see the value is the final version, I personally find Ellison's version the more compelling. We *know* that Kirk is all about duty, and being right. The idea is that he falls so powerfully in love that it blinds him to that. Maybe for the first time, he is forced to reconsider where his devotion is placed, and whether it might be worth giving that up for something else.

    You wouldn't want him giving it all up every week, but as a one time question of what he would do, I think it makes a great story.

  19. Re:On one hand... on Harlan Ellison Sues For "Star Trek" Episode · · Score: 1

    Well, feel free to disregard my opinion, but I preferred Ellison's script.

    That's beside the point, though, because if the contract specified that he would be paid residuals, then he should be paid residuals. If the parent corporation is going to continue to market and rake in money from the script that he is credited with, then they need to play by the rules they agreed to. These are the only ways to force companies to behave ethically.

  20. Re:Politics of health care on Why Doctors Hate Science · · Score: 1

    A 15% discount over what they'd charge insurance? That's completely the opposite of my experience. I went without insurance for a few years, and I discovered that the rates charged to individuals were *much* higher than the rates they charged large insurance plans. The large group plans were given volume discounts. I found this out too late to take advantage of it while I was without employer-based insurance, but many groups recommend having any insurance, regardless of how crappy the coverage is, just to get the group savings.

  21. Re:Evidence-based Professional IQs on Why Doctors Hate Science · · Score: 1

    It's not true that 'Doctors Hate Science', but it *is* true that doctors aren't scientists. They're practitioners. That's a point that routinely forgotten.

  22. Re:Evidence-based medicine on Why Doctors Hate Science · · Score: 1

    I agree that money is not the only motivator, but you're leaving out some key issues:

    Doctors in general acquire far more debt during their schooling, and therefore expect to make more to repay it. It's a reinforcing cycle.

    PhDs in general are aiming for tenure. While lengthy discussions can and have been had about tenure, the fact is that it's a huge lure that doctors don't have.

  23. Re:how long before we spammed to death on Kindle? on Why Kindle 2's Screen Took 12 Years and $150 Million · · Score: 1

    Wait, you think $14/month for the Sunday Times is pricey? Do you live in Manhattan? I lived in NJ 6 years ago and the Sunday NYT was selling for $4-6. That's more than the $14 you claim per month.

    Frankly, if I still lived in the area I would have a daily subscription. I'd be proud to support the NYT, given its quality.

  24. Re:Denialist reasoning on Arctic Ice Extent Understated Because of "Sensor Drift" · · Score: 1

    will you pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease stop using "scientist"?

    Someone who does research according to the scientific method and publishes their work in a peer-reviewed journal is a scientist. Who are you dismissing by your use of quotations? If there are people who are journalists or proselytizers but are claiming to be scientists, let's expose them directly.

  25. Re:Is it 1988 again? on Tech Firms Oppose Union Organizing · · Score: 1

    So the companies that make record profits and then reduce their workforce the next quarter to meet analysts' expectations to keep their stock value high....is that the right thing, too?

    Keeping a company afloat or with better margins is not always in the interest of the workforce. Employees that were let go 10 years ago don't care if the company would have collapsed in 6 years.

    It has to be a balance